Our university and our democracy is under attack. On a broad scale, assaults on our academic freedom by Tallahassee have gone unchecked by the UF Board of Trustees, creating an atmosphere of fear and censorship.
Earning the title of a top-five public university last year, UF has become a space for some of the nation’s most gifted individuals — something that often prompts students to go the extra mile when doubting their own skills. Questions of academic ability often become questions of belonging, with a single less-than-superior grade housing the potential to make students worry about whether they deserve to have a spot here.
The first year of my Ph.D. program in psychology had taken a toll on my finances. I had moved from a job that paid me just enough to get by, determined to make UF’s much lower stipend work. Unfortunately, determination wasn’t enough to make that stipend stretch to cover the cost of living.
Despite their unpopularity, communal residential halls offer benefits that complete the freshman experience here at UF.
A shout-out of gratitude and admiration to all the staff and students who this past week welcomed our new students into residence and dining halls with cheerfulness and effectiveness, even in the heat and rain of August in Gainesville.
The newsroom’s soda-spotted carpets, crumb-ridden couch and nerd-infested nooks somehow kept my eyes bright as the rest of the city dimmed.
Pressure strips you down until there’s nothing left but who you are, deepest inside, and shoves a mirror in your eyes. Somewhere in all the split-second decisions and time on the clock, that mirror made its way to me.
Over my time at The Alligator, I’ve learned to cherish every moment. However, to me, it isn’t only about appreciating time. It is learning to accept, revere and grow from the hardest.
The Alligator newsroom is lined with its history. The best issues, framed, hang over editors’ desks. The sagging couch where I nestled for the past 16 print nights seems pulled out of an estate sale, or an abandoned frat house. Closets contain stacks of our recent issues and proud collections of novels written by Alligator alum.
I’ve been obsessed with words for as long as I can remember. The way they can make you feel, what art you can create or how they shape you. And I love words, for I grew up having trouble arranging them in my speech the way I could on paper. So I gobbled them when I could, whether that was reading or writing elementary books before I understood what world I lived in.
I had joined The Alligator Summer 2020 as a transfer student, about four months after the onset of the pandemic. As a digital news assistant, I reported remotely from my Miami home, and my interactions consisted strictly of text and video calls over Zoom. It wasn’t until I became a features and investigations editor in January that I began to feel the sense of community that a true newsroom fosters. I began to see The Alligator as a second home.
We got here because while some of our leaders played partisan politics, others got to work — and together, we all did our part. We developed the best vaccines in the world in record time and distributed over 250 million of them to Americans. We passed legislation that kept small businesses open and put money in people's pockets to ride out the crisis. Local leaders made the tough calls to keep people safe despite intense political interference from Tallahassee.
SG paid Roddy Ricch to perform at the O'Connell Center Feb. 8. In 2021, UF Student Government transferred $1.55 million from its reserves to improve the student experience “as in-person activities return[ed].” Of that money, $750,000 went to SGP. I don’t have an issue with Roddy Ricch as a performer. In fact, I was at the show. But as someone who has worked in live event production for years, I can tell you that’s an obscene amount of money for one act — especially given the turnout of the event. According to The Alligator, of the 6,500 seats available, only about 3,000 were filled.
UF's reputation is under threat. There is a serious breakdown of trust and faith in the school’s academic governing process, the very concept of collegiality and respect for the role of faculty.
J’etudie journalisme. (I’m studying journalism). (French).
Steven Walker, Fall 2021 editor-in-chief, writes his farewell to The Alligator
That’s the thing about The Alligator — we care so much for the paper that covering stories is so instinctive that we may forget to sleep. Maybe I don’t need to sleep. Can I stay a bit longer?
It’s really hard to pinpoint why this moment is so bitter-sweet, but when you’re surrounded by hardworking individuals 24/7 it’s hard to let that feeling go.
These final, hustling weeks of Fall are among my favorite times on campus. We return refreshed by Thanksgiving break, ready to finish the semester strong and looking forward to the celebrations ahead — from graduation to the holidays and New Year.
UF President Kent Fuchs, Provost Joe Glover, Dean Michael Perri and Dean Colleen Koch should resign immediately. Dan Mullen’s team giving up 52 points to Samford made for an unpleasant few hours, but the actions of Fuchs, Glover, Perri and Koch have permanently damaged the university’s reputation and abdicated its mission.
Solutions by The State News
